Board of Directors

Bernie Mazyck, Board Chair

Since November 1, 1998, Bernie Mazyck has served as the first President and CEO of the South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations. SCACDC is the state's trade association for CDCs and grassroots economic development organizations. Since his time with SCACDC, Bernie helped shepherd the growth of the community economic development movement in South Carolina from four CDCs to over 70.

A life-long resident of Summerville, South Carolina, Bernie is a graduate of Charleston Southern University, and is pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree with an emphasis in Urban Development from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2000, Bernie completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University. Bernie is a 2004 recipient of the Order of the Silver Crescent by Governor Mark Sanford. The Order of the Silver Crescent is South Carolina’s highest civilian award for community service. Bernie is also a graduate of the South Carolina Urban Land Institute Leadership program and The Riley Institute at Furman’s Diversity Leadership Institute.

Andy Fraizer, Board Vice-Chair

Andy Fraizer is the Executive Director of the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development (IACED). IACED represents the interests of organizations engaged in community economic development across Indiana. Founded in 1986 to serve and partner with the community economic development sector, IACED’s extensive network and diversified areas of expertise give it the capacity to make a difference in member efforts to improve local quality of life. IACED members rehabilitate and construct housing, create jobs, develop real estate, support small business development and deliver social services. Mr. Fraizer is responsible for all aspects of IACED’s operations including administrative, program development, budgets, personnel, public policy, and public relations. Mr. Fraizer leads IACED’s public policy work on state and federal issues working with policy consultants, local and state officials, members of the General Assembly, and other partners.

Before joining IACED, Fraizer was director of community development for the city of Indianapolis. His focus was working with local government agencies and community partners to enhance local quality of life and promote a holistic approach to community development. In this position, he was responsible for initiatives to produce and improve access to affordable housing, reuse abandoned properties, revitalize commercial districts, improve access to jobs and amenities, beautify communities and engage residents. Fraizer earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana State University in Secondary Education and Political Science and a master's degree in Public Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.  Fraizer is a past participant in the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the JFK School of Government, Harvard University.  Fraizer is currently enrolled in Achieving Excellence, an executive education program developed by NeighborWorks America in partnership with the JFK School of Government.

Joe Kriesberg, Board Treasurer

Joe Kriesberg is the President and CEO of the Massachusetts Association of CDCs (MACDC). He first joined MACDC in 1993 as Vice President and served in that capacity until he became President in July 2002. He oversees the agency's advocacy work with public and private sector entities, capacity building work with members, long term strategic planning, collaborations and partnerships; and internal operations.
He has launched several innovative new programs at MACDC, including the Mel King Institute for Community Building, the GOALs Initiative, the biennial MACDC conventions and the Community Development Innovation Forum, a collaborative process to identify and implement strategies to help the field adapt to the changing context for its work. During his tenure Joe has led the association's legislative advocacy work. He has helped to pass many important bills through the Massachusetts Legislature, including the groundbreaking Insurance Industry Community Investment Act (1998), the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (2000), the Small Business Technical Assistance Program (2006), a comprehensive anti-foreclosure law (2007), and a new law to help preserve so-called "expiring-use" affordable rental communities (2009). Joe serves on the board of several state and national organizations, is frequently asked to speak on community development issues and trends here and around the country, and writes about these issues on the MACDC blo

Jamie Schriner-Hooper, Board Secretary

Jamie Schriner-Hooper is the Executive Director of the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM). Prior to joining CEDAM, she worked at both the state and local level, working to revitalize historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. In addition, Jamie and her husband own and have rehabilitated several historic properties in the Greater Lansing area, as well as own a small business in their local Main Street district. Jamie is a Big Sister and serves as Vice President for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Michigan Capital Region Board of Directors. She also serves on the Michigan Main Street Advisory Committee, Michigan Magnet Fund Board and Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis Affordable Housing Advisory Council. Jamie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Family Studies and German from Central Michigan University and a Master’s degree in Communications from Michigan State University.

Diane Sterner, Immediate Past Chair

Diane Sterner is the founding director of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. This statewide association of 150 community-based development organizations was created in 1989 to enhance the efforts of these groups to create housing and economic opportunities, revitalize their communities, and improve the climate for community development.

Prior to joining the Network Ms. Sterner worked as a community development consultant with non-profit housing developers, and as director of housing and economic development for La Casa de Don Pedro, a community-based organization in Newark.Ms. Sterner has helped found several other organizations to address issues critical to New Jersey communities, including the Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment and Homes for NJ, and serves on the boards of NJ Policy Perspective, the National Housing Institute and NJ Citizen Action. As a James A. Johnson Fellow in 2006 she helped found NACEDA as a voice for community development practitioners in Washington, DC and a vehicle for bringing together state and local CDC associations to support the field.

Kate Little, Board Member

Ms. Little has a successful history connected to the affordable housing industry. She serves as the president and CEO of the Georgia State Trade Association of Nonprofit Developers (G-STAND), an organization dedicated to increasing the capacity of nonprofit housing organizations to develop affordable housing. Previously, she served on the staff of the Georgia Housing Finance Authority (later subsumed by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs), and for eight years was Atlanta Director of The Enterprise Foundation, working with nonprofits in neglected communities to improve housing conditions. Ms. Little also directed a reinvestment program in Atlanta’s Westview neighborhood, after working for the Atlanta Housing Authority for five years.Ms. Little received her B. A. degree from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. She also holds a Master’s degree in Urban Studies from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Terry Chelikowsky, Board Member

Ms. Terry Chelikowsky is the Executive Director of the Florida Alliance of Community Development Corporations (FLACDC). The Alliance’s mission is to support and advance the housing, economic development and community building strategies of its members and to build the power of low and moderate income people to achieve greater economic, social and racial justice. She got her start in the community development industry in 1989 at the Ohio CDC Association, leaving in 1994 to establish her own consulting firm focusing on organizational strategic planning and microenterprise program development/implementation.
Since joining FLACDC in 2006, Ms. Chelikowsky has worked steadily to build the structural capacity of members to better meet their missions; develop mutually beneficial partnership with other statewide organizations; and educate stakeholders, policy makers and funders on the critical role played by CDCs in community economic development.

Sharon Legenza, Board Member

Sharon K. Legenza is the Executive Director of Housing Action Illinois, a statewide, membership-based organization formed to protect and expand the availability of quality, affordable housing throughout Illinois. Prior to joining Housing Action, she served as the interim Executive Director for the ACLU of Alaska, having temporarily relocated to Alaska to conduct an ACLU-sponsored human rights investigation of the state prison system.

Sharon has served as of counsel with the law firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, in Chicago, as the Fair Housing Project Director for the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and as an associate with the law firm of Sidley Austin. She has successfully litigated numerous civil rights and constitutional law cases, and is an expert on fair and affordable housing issues. Sharon is currently working on initiatives to mitigate foreclosures and stabilize communities at risk because of the housing crisis.

Sharon serves on the Board of Directors of the Asian American Institute, and is a past president of the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance, the Asian American Institute and the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area. She has served on the Circuit Court of Cook County Chancery Division Mortgage Foreclosure Case Management Advisory Committee, the Court of Cook County Committee on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Court, and the Circuit Court of Cook County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. 

Sharon is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, where she served on the Editorial Board for the Journal of International Law and Business.  Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Chicago. 

Joseph McNeely, Board Member 

Joe McNeely is a nationally known expert and consultant on community development and a veteran community organizer. He is currently the Executive Director of the Central Baltimore Partnership and Co-facilitator of the Weinberg Fellows program of the University of Baltimore’s Schaefer Center. He was the founding executive of Baltimore’s South East Community Organization (SECO) and Southeast Community Development Corporation before serving at the national level in the Carter Administration. For 20 years he served as the President of the national Development Training Institute (DTI), which national columnist Neal Peirce called “the country’s premier trainer of CDC (Community Development Corporation) leaders.”

Brigette Rasberry, Board Member

In her role at North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations, Brigette E. Rasberry works closely with the President/CEO in setting the organization's strategic direction and provides capacity building to expand the cadre of professionally trained CED practitioners within the state of North Carolina.  Ms. Rasberry has been trained in both the Success Measures Outcome Evaluation model offered by NeighborWorks America as well as the Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) methodology offered by PACT, International.

Ms. Rasberry graduated magna cum laude from St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, NC, were she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management.  She has served the community economic development field for 13 years.  She first served as a practitioner, working at her alma mater to assist in restoring a commercial district just beyond the campus walls. From there she went on to serve as Project Manager of an urban community development corporation in Durham, NC.  Ms. Rasberry later became Executive Director of that same organization, expanding her community economic development focus to all aspects of community and family stabilization. Ms. Rasberry has now moved on to her current position as Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of the North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations (NCACDC).  She has been able to utilize not only her years of experience in the field but also her more than 15 years of experience in public service and management.  

In 2008, Ms. Rasberry was elected to the Board of Directors for the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations (NACEDA).

 Rick Sauer, Board Member

Rick Sauer has more than twenty years’ experience in non-profit housing and community development, with a focus on policy and advocacy, and non-profit administration. In 1999 he became Executive Director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations, a citywide association of CDCs and other organizations creating vibrant and diverse neighborhoods.Previously, he was Associate Director of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, an association of non-profit developers, and Assistant Editor of Shelterforce magazine for the National Housing Institute. He received a 2007 Eisenhower Fellowship on Urban Challenges, and holds a Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Policy Development from Rutgers University-New Brunswick. He currently serves on numerous housing and community development-related boards and committees, including NACEDA, the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, Urban Affairs Coalition, and Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund Oversight Board.

Nate Coffman, Board Member 

 Nate Coffman, Executive Director for the Ohio  CDCAssociation (OCDCA), joined the organization in  December 2009. OCDCA is a statewide trade association  representing rural and urban community development  corporations. Previously he directed the revitalization  efforts of Cleveland's historic Ohio City neighborhood with  the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation  (OCNW). A native of southeastern Ohio, Mr. Coffman lead  OCNW after serving eight years as executive director of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cleveland (HBA) and previously as its government and community affairs manager. At the HBA, Nate helped bring the organization and the membership to invest and develop in many underserved urban neighborhoods working in partnership with local CDC's. He also worked several years in Columbus for U.S. Senator John Glenn and as an aide at the Ohio Senate. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University and has completed coursework for his master’s degree in journalism from Ohio University

 Michael Anderson is an affordable housing organizer for the Center for Community Change’s Housing Trust Fund Project. Based in Portland, Oregon, Michael provides technical assistance and support to state and local coalitions working to establish and strengthen housing trust funds that dedicate public revenue to creating and preserving affordable housing for people with the lowest incomes. Michael has particular expertise in effective communication strategies for advancing affordable housing public policy.